Eek: Reborn

One of my first memories was when I was staying with my Aunt LoLita while my mom was in the hospital after having a miscarriage. Because of when the miscarriage took place, I know I was only about 2 years old. I woke up screaming in the middle of the night from a nightmare. My aunt took a simple hand puppet and tried to distract me with it. I don’t remember much more of that night. That puppet became a very much loved object, though. Mainly because it was from Aunt LoLita. I adored her. It was made from corduroy with 2 little ears and 2 white pompoms for eyes and a black one for a nose. I didn’t really play with it much myself, and no one at home EVER used it to play with me, mainly because I always played by myself. I don’t remember any interaction with my parents or grandparents, ever. Anyway, this little puppet with no name was always among my treasures. I would look at it and think of Aunt LoLita.
After Sarah came along, I brought the puppet out and named him Eek, because that’s what I’d make him say when I had him “talk” to Sarah. Eek became one of Sarah’s menagerie of critters. When the time came to pack up the toys no longer played with, Eek went into a large bag with the others and was stored in the attic.
Over the last couple of years, when it was time for the church rummage sales, we’d get stuff out of the attic and sort for what stayed, what was donated and what was thrown away. The occasional bag of toys was gone through as well. I would call Sarah before donating any of her stuff, as she had named a lot of the critters. At one point, when I was describing some of the stuffed animals and such, she said “Wasn’t there an “‘Eek’”? I KNEW that was a familiar name, but couldn’t for the life of me remember what Eek was, and neither could Sarah. Sounds like a mouse, right? None of the mice I came across were Eek. Nothing else seemed to fit.
After Lia got a little older, I really started looking for Sarah’s things to see what might be OK for Lia to have. As I went through this huge box of miscellaneous “stuff” from both Sarah’s and Paul’s childhoods—there he was—Eek. I knew him as soon as I saw him. How could I forget Eek? Poor Eek—by this time he’d lost one eye and his nose. I washed him and gave him new white button eyes and a little pink button nose.
This past weekend, I was pleased to introduce Eek to Lia, who seemed to enjoy him as much as Sarah and I had when we were children. I just wish I could tell Aunt LoLita about it…♥